Dr. Llanos-Contreras, Orlando

Ibero-America has been getting increasing attention from scholars in the last few years. Thus, management, finance and marketing research on firms and market functioning in countries from this region has been published in leading journals (e.g. De-la-Hoz and Pombo, 2016; Gomez-Mejia et al., 2007; Jimenez-Jimenez and Sanz-Valle, 2011). To keep learning about the “Challenges and Trends in Management for Ibero-America” is important for supporting new research on studies from Ibero-American countries. For building theory, contributions to this topic should not only respond to unsolved questions on the current literature, but also identify new challenges in terms of theoretical gaps, methods and new areas of research (Easterby-Smith et al., 2012; Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007; Martinez et al., 2011). Hence, articles within this special issue have been selected looking to meet these criteria. This special issue published eight articles presenting the work of nineteen scholars from eighteen universities of ten different countries. These articles relate to topics on general management, sport management, knowledge management, marketing and finance. The articles’ approaches include quantitative approach based on primary data (survey), a quantitative approach based on secondary information, a qualitative multimethod approach, a mixed method combining qualitative content analysis with quantitative data analysis, a mixed method but using regression and qualitative compared analysis and an experimental design.

The success of women-owned businesses with regard to the stages of economic development of countries is under-examined on a global basis. This study explores the relationship between country economic and political contexts and assesses the importance of entrepreneurs’ networks and managerial skills on women’s entrepreneurial success. The research uses data from 22 countries chosen from multi-dimensional country context constructs (i.e., select economic and political factors) and measures both family and external moral and financial support and managerial skills. The results show that stock (managerial skill) and flow (family and non-family support) differentially influence women’s entrepreneurial success in countries at varying levels of competitive development. In particular, the results confirm the positive influence of managerial skills and family moral and financial support on women’s entrepreneurial success (based on annual income) in countries at a higher level of competitive development and confirm their negative influence in countries at a lower level of competitive growth. Moreover, the results reveal influences of non-family financial support (positive for highly competitive countries) on income but not nonfamily moral support. Public policy implications are discussed.

Attracting business college graduates is a major challenge for the growth and transgenerational success of family firms. Moreover, the institutional context of countries is critical in explaining family firms’ potential advantages and/or disadvantages in attracting nonfamily talent. This study aims to elucidate how communicating firm ownership (family vs. nonfamily), firm size (large vs. small), and type of job offered (professional vs. nonprofessional) influences the perceptions and attitudes of Latin American business graduates toward working in such firms. In an experimental study that uses job advertisement stimuli, we found that communicating family ownership positively influences career development’s perceptions of firm prestige. Large (vs. small) firm size also has a positive influence on job seekers’ perceptions of firms. Importantly, both firm prestige and career development positively influence the attraction of working in family firms. In this paper, we discuss the differences in the results among countries and professional vs. nonprofessional job positions advertised. The results have several implications for family firm owners and managers.

Family firms’ risk-taking behaviour is central to these firms’ ability to recover from major loses after a natural disaster. Natural disasters pose a threat to family firms’ continuity, a primary goal for this type of firm. Accordingly, it is necessary to understand how socioemotional wealth importance and entrepreneurial orientation interact to influence family firms’ ownership risk, performance hazard risk and control risk in a post-disaster scenario. Using a sample of family firms from the Bío-Bío region in Chile, which was devastated by a massive earthquake in 2010, we performed partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The PLS-SEM results partially support our hypotheses. The fsQCA results provide three, six and seven causal configurations that explain 34%, 67% and 72% of ownership risk, performance hazard risk and control risk, respectively. This article shows that the interaction between socioemotional wealth importance and entrepreneurial orientation is important to explain risk-taking behaviour by family firms in a post-disaster scenario.

Purpose: This paper investigates the influence of firms' communication in terms of family firm identity and country-of-origin on consumer response. Design/methodology/approach: A self-supplied online experiment in Chile and Spain is employed using as dependent variables brand trust and intention to buy. The experiment includes the following factors: family firm identity (family vs non-family), country of origin (national vs foreign) and as a manipulation check (type of product: hedonic vs utilitarian). Findings: The results indicate that communicating the family firm identity increases brand trust and purchase intention. Consumers show higher scores on trust and purchase intention when exposed to national country of origin products. The effect of the variability on the dependent variables is greater when the family firm identity is communicated. Trust and purchase intention are different in Chilean and Spanish consumers when the family firm identity is combined with a national country of origin cue. Originality/value: This article contributes to family business theory by exploring how to capitalize on the family firm identity component in brand communication. It also contributes to the theory of corporate brand identity by proposing a communication model oriented toward consumer behavior. It also examines firms' communication (family firm identity and country-of-origin) on consumer.

Purpose: Communicating the identity of a family business generates positive results in consumer response. The paper aims to understanding how the efficient transmission of family identity can influence consumer behavior is essential for designing family firms' marketing communication strategies. Design/methodology/approach: An experimental study based on the eye-tracking technique was designed to determine how attention to (familiar vs non-familiar) visual stimuli on a website influences consumer recognition of a family firm status and how it influences consumer behavior. A sample of 212 individuals was exposed to (simulated) websites of family and non-family firms in the hospitality industry to capture information about their eye movements and measure visual attention to specific stimuli that communicated family identity. Findings: Visual attention has a direct and positive influence on recognizing family firm's identity (FFI). Through FFI, visual attention has an indirect positive effect on trust in the company and attitude toward the brand (BraAtt). Trust in a firm positively affects purchase intention (PurInt). Originality/value: It is known that consumers can perceive a FFI; however, there is no study on the sensory mechanisms operating in consumers' perceptions of family identity. The study contributes to understanding how consumers can perceive a FFI. This study proposes a novel method for evaluating consumer responses by transmitting family business identity on digital platforms.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a tool for the integration of knowledge and the development of students’ capacities for analysis in the area of strategic management of companies. Mall Connection is a Chilean company that has developed mainly in the business of the commercialization of technological devices and their accessories. From this base, it has constructed a portfolio of related business and currently has expansion into neighbouring countries as one of its most important challenges. Design/methodology/approach: The case has been developed from primary sources of information, in-depth interviews with the management team of the company and secondary information obtained mainly from the Passport Euromonitor database. This information was processed, analysed and presented in the document so as to give support to the learning outcomes defined in the teaching notes. Findings: The breadth of the case offers flexibility in its application in corporate strategy and business courses. It allows external and internal competitive analysis of the strategy of the company. One central aspect is that it requires students to integrate the theory learnt in their courses with the practical experience described in the case to propose answers to the questions asked. Originality/value: The case is of great value in motivating the learning in MBA students and in courses of business strategy at undergraduate level. It is an original case that allows students to know experiences of entrepreneurship and strategic management in a Latin American context.

Information for measuring the performance of a commercial action is essential for any organization. Sponsorship actions have increased significantly in the last few decades, but academics and practitioners have not yet found a suitable indicator for measuring their performance. This is the first study to propose an objective indicator—frontal alpha asymmetry using an electroencephalogram. Our goal was to investigate the effectiveness of sports sponsorships by examining both stated preferences and neural responses. We measured the congruence of the stated preferences, attitude, purchase intention, and loyalty, as well as the effective congruence. A 76-subject experiment revealed greater left frontal activity (approach behavior) during congruent versus incongruent sponsorship (avoidance behavior). electroencephalogram results were consistent with self-reports, but we found that frontal alpha asymmetry is positively related to loyalty when sponsorship is congruent and inversely related in the incongruent case. This new indicator of sponsorship effectiveness could be useful for examining the performance of commercial action at both academic and professional levels.

Natural disasters are becoming more frequent and severe and pose a threat to family firms' survival. It is important to address the rarely examined question of how the variables of socioemotional wealth importance (SEWi) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) interact to influence the performance of family businesses in a post-disaster scenario. This study is based on a sample of 307 family businesses that suffered damage as a result of the 2010 earthquake in the Province of Concepción, Chile. Comparative analysis was performed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). The PLS-SEM results support all study hypotheses. The QCA results yield five models that explain post-disaster performance. The model with the greatest coverage includes the EO variables of competitive aggressiveness, internal innovativeness, and external innovativeness. However, SEWi is relevant in terms of its interaction with the rest of the variables in three of the five models.